Everything old is new again

Refurbished '50s diner relives the good old days.

Refurbished '50s diner relives the good old days.

November 25, 2006|RYAN J. STANTON The Bay City Times

BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) -- It's 3 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, and Vince Stuart has just finished cooking. His white apron shows evidence of another long day spent in the kitchen, but things are different on this day. The 43-year-old Bay City restaurateur has transformed his downtown Stock Pot Restaurant into a 1950s-style diner, complete with pictures of retro icons like Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. Inside a glass case is an old-fashioned jukebox that probably has played a few tunes by The King. You get the picture, and so do Stuart's customers. "I had to stop and look to make sure I was in the same place," says Scott Heinz, 48, of Auburn, enjoying a meal with his family on a recent afternoon. "It's a big change. It looks nice." Stuart closed his restaurant for major renovations on Aug. 28, and reopened Oct. 10 -- with a new look and a hefty dose of nostalgia. Customers might not recognize the place now that the carpet's been torn from the floor and replaced with a sea of black-and-white checkered tiles. A set of chrome bar stools now line a new lunch counter, reflecting in a new mirrored wall. Booths are covered in metallic purple and silver vinyl, retrofitted with V-back seats similar to those of a 1957 Chevy. "I designed the whole building," Stuart says. "I designed it off the Internet and from different diners I've been to. I did a lot of homework on the Internet." Stuart didn't live through the '50s, but that's not to say he doesn't appreciate the era. "I always liked the old '50s diners," he said. "I always had the dream of opening up a diner, and downtown's always been good to me. It's a great downtown."